You would be in the minority if you think Pettis deserves a shot at the lightweight belt than Gilbert does. I still love you and appreciate all your contributions Yellow, but on this issue, you are wrong.

yellow c0ckahlc -

Don't bring the other weight classes into this. All those other title shots you're talking about don't apply to this. We're talking about lightweight, and as far as I'm concerned, WEC LW>Strikeforce LW.

You are the one who tried to use the angle of "WEC > SF".

If you think it's about champion vs champion, and if you are so adament that WEC lw division was greater than SF division(at lw), than what is stopping, or what was stopping UFC from making Champion vs Champion in Benson vs Pettis? Was Pettis not the last defending champion of WEC lightweight division before it got bought out just as Gilbert was the last defending champion of SF before it got bought out?

yellow c0ckahlc -

Oh, I definitely didn't have Pettis ranked above Gil when he lost. But, guess what? I do now. His last few wins come over opponents who are consistently fighting the best of the division.

This is where your bias towards Pettis is taking over.

Since losing to Clay Guida, the first win Pettis got was against a guy who was 2-1 his last 3 fights before facing Pettis. Those two "impressive" wins were a 3rd rd tko of way over the hill and NOT top ten ranked Marcus Davis, who has never cracked the top 10, and was also coming off a loss before he faced the first guy whom Pettis beat after Guida. His 2nd "impressive" win was against ..whom Pettis 1st opponent after Guida fought to a decision win before being "good" enough to face Pettis.

Pettis 2nd win after his Guida loss, was against 2-1 Joe Lauzon. Joe is everyone's favorite fighter, but before Pettis was matched up against Joe, Joe had a win against Curt Warburton-who is he?, and Joe did have ONE impressive win against Melvin. You are putting dominating performances against obvious weaker competition as your basis for Pettis.

Pettis' 3rd win since the Guida loss was against a guy whose opponents were Jeremy Stephens and Melvin Guillard, two familiar names already addressed, one of them a guy whom Pettis already beat. So Pettis 3rd win was against a guy who just beat Pettis' first win(since Guida). You act like Pettis has climbed the rankings, when in actuallity he has fought lower level guys, he just looked good.(as he should've)

Gilbert Melendez was fighting (April 2011 rankings provided on my post on page 1, or you can do your own research if what I provided isn't sufficient.(ironically ranked behind Gilbert's opponent, was Anthony Pettis at #9. Gilbert fought the #8 guy.

Gilberts 2nd win was against Jorge Masvidal, and although he wasn't ranked in the top 10, he was a solid opponent, but keep in mind Jeremy Stephens and Joe Lauzon weren't top 10 for Pettis either.

Gilberts 3rd win was against Josh Thomson, who is more proven, fought tougher opponents, and has consistently been ranked higher than any of Pettis' 3 wins since his Guida loss.

If you want to say why Pettis should be ahead of Gilbert, use the one legit reason, which is exciting. You cannot say Gilbert is only getting it because UFC can bill it as Champion vs Champion, b/c UFC can and probably would promote Benson vs Pettis as Champion vs Champion, as Pettis WAS a LW Champion for a smaller org.

You cannot say Pettis has a better record, he does not. You cannot say Pettis has more top 10 wins, he does not. You cannot say Pettis has been more active, the past 3/4 years they've fought the same amount of times.

The only thing you can say, is he's more exciting, and his wins have looked more impressive if you take away the skills and rankings of who it was against.

By the way, the last guy Pettis lost to is a former Strikeforce Lw Champion. You may continue to tell me how WEC Lw's are superior to SF lw's as you make your case for Pettis being more deserving than Gilbert.

You would be in the minority if you think Pettis deserves a shot at the lightweight belt than Gilbert does. I still love you and appreciate all your contributions Yellow, but on this issue, you are wrong.

yellow c0ckahlc -

Don't bring the other weight classes into this. All those other title shots you're talking about don't apply to this. We're talking about lightweight, and as far as I'm concerned, WEC LW>Strikeforce LW.

You are the one who tried to use the angle of "WEC > SF".

If you think it's about champion vs champion, and if you are so adament that WEC lw division was greater than SF division(at lw), than what is stopping, or what was stopping UFC from making Champion vs Champion in Benson vs Pettis? Was Pettis not the last defending champion of WEC lightweight division before it got bought out just as Gilbert was the last defending champion of SF before it got bought out?

yellow c0ckahlc -

Oh, I definitely didn't have Pettis ranked above Gil when he lost. But, guess what? I do now. His last few wins come over opponents who are consistently fighting the best of the division.

This is where your bias towards Pettis is taking over.

Since losing to Clay Guida, the first win Pettis got was against a guy who was 2-1 his last 3 fights before facing Pettis. Those two "impressive" wins were a 3rd rd tko of way over the hill and NOT top ten ranked Marcus Davis, who has never cracked the top 10, and was also coming off a loss before he faced the first guy whom Pettis beat after Guida. His 2nd "impressive" win was against ..whom Pettis 1st opponent after Guida fought to a decision win before being "good" enough to face Pettis.

Pettis 2nd win after his Guida loss, was against 2-1 Joe Lauzon. Joe is everyone's favorite fighter, but before Pettis was matched up against Joe, Joe had a win against Curt Warburton-who is he?, and Joe did have ONE impressive win against Melvin. You are putting dominating performances against obvious weaker competition as your basis for Pettis.

Pettis' 3rd win since the Guida loss was against a guy whose opponents were Jeremy Stephens and Melvin Guillard, two familiar names already addressed, one of them a guy whom Pettis already beat. So Pettis 3rd win was against a guy who just beat Pettis' first win(since Guida). You act like Pettis has climbed the rankings, when in actuallity he has fought lower level guys, he just looked good.(as he should've)

I think you mean "majority." I believe most people are saying Pettis should get the next shot.

Maynard was in attendance this past weekend in Chicago when the former WEC lightweight champion steamrolled Donald Cerrone in their showdown at UFC on Fox 6. The first-round TKO win over "Cowboy" put Pettis in the position to wait for the winner of Henderson versus Melendez at UFC on Fox 7 in April.

While Maynard doesn't discount the importance of having a title shot hanging in the future, he also knows firsthand how much can go wrong in the process. Fighters get injured, rematches happen and if Pettis' shot at the crown is pushed back, Maynard extended the invitation to punch his dance ticket.

"Pettis is the fight I would love to have," Maynard told Bleacher Report. "At the same time, I understand why he would wait for a title shot. That is what we are all working towards and if that is on his plate then I get sitting out. But things rarely go as planned in this game and if something happens as a result of the Henderson vs. Melendez fight and Pettis decides he's tired of waiting then I'd be happy to oblige him. The way I see it, whether it happens now or later, Pettis and I are on a collision course.

"He does some exciting things inside the cage and I think it would be a great challenge trying to solve that puzzle. I watched him beat Cerrone this weekend, but "Cowboy's" style was the perfect matchup for Pettis to do what he does best. Cerrone comes forward with a straight up and down Muay Thai-style and Pettis was able to dictate space and get off on him. That's not the way I fight and I think I would present some difficult challenges for him."

A win over any of these guys would put him in a justified position for a title shot, whereas a win over Grant, Lauzon, Healy, Khabib etc wouldn't help me him much, and I'm sick of rematches, so no Diaz.

Miller/Healy in April, do Maynard vs Grant around the same time, winners fight around the time Pettis gets his title shot in the summer and the winner of that fight gets the next title shot in the fall.

Whoever wins would be worth, either Miller gets Healy and Maynard or Healy comes into the UFC and knocks off Miller and Maynard or Grant. Grant knocks off Maynard and then Miller/healy, any of the 4 would be worthy of a title shot.

"It makes sense for Gilbert to fight him at this time b/c we're unifying the title. That's always great for our sport. Anytime you can unify a title it just connects the dots in our industry".

So you can have your opinion that Pettis is #1 contender ahead of Gilbert Melendez. All major mma based websites agree with me, UFC first official rankigns agree with me, Anthony Pettis own coach/manager whom trains with Pettis every day, agrees with me.

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